Apparatus, system and method for utilizing a flexible slot format indicator

ABSTRACT

Embodiments are presented herein of apparatuses, systems, and methods for utilizing a flexible slot indicator in wireless communication. A base station (BS) may establish communication with a first user equipment device (UE). The BS may determine a transmission direction for each of a plurality of symbols included in one or more slots. The BS may transmit a slot format indicator (SFI) to the UE. The SFI may indicate the transmission direction for each of the plurality of symbols included in one or more slots. The BS and the UE may perform communication during the one or more slots according to the determined transmission direction.

PRIORITY CLAIM INFORMATION

This application is a continuation of:

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/776,793, entitled “Apparatus, Systemand Method for Utilizing a Flexible Slot Format Indicator,” filed Jan.30, 2020, which is a continuation of: U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/898,692, entitled “Apparatus, System and Method for Utilizing aFlexible Slot Format Indicator,” filed Feb. 19, 2018, which claimsbenefit of priority of:

U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 62/488,433 titled “Flexible SlotFormat Indicator” filed Apr. 21, 2017; and

U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 62/587,358 titled “Flexible SlotFormat Indicator” filed Nov. 16, 2017;

each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety asthough fully and completely set forth herein.

The claims in the instant application are different than those of theparent application or other related applications. The Applicanttherefore rescinds any disclaimer of claim scope made in the parentapplication or any predecessor application in relation to the instantapplication. The Examiner is therefore advised that any such previousdisclaimer and the cited references that it was made to avoid, may needto be revisited. Further, any disclaimer made in the instant applicationshould not be read into or against the parent application or otherrelated applications.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to wireless communication, and moreparticularly, to mechanisms for flexibly signaling the transmissionformat of slots in a radio frame.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

There exists a need for mechanisms of signaling (especially, flexiblyand dynamically signaling) to UEs the time division duplex (TDD)structure of slots or groups of slots in a radio frame.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are presented herein of apparatuses, systems, and methodsfor utilizing a flexible slot indicator in wireless communication.

A base station (BS) may establish communication with a first userequipment device (UE). The BS and the UE may each include wirelesscommunication circuitry for performing wireless communication with eachother and/or other devices. Additionally, the BS and the UE may eachinclude one or more processing elements, e.g., that may execute programinstructions to operate the respective device.

In some embodiments, the BS may determine a transmission direction foreach of a plurality of symbols included in one or more slots. The BS maydetermine this transmission direction for the plurality of symbols in adynamic fashion or a semistatic fashion, as desired. Additionally, thedetermination may be performed for a single UE, for a plurality of UEs,and/or all UEs in communication with the BS.

Based on the determination, the BS may transmit a slot format indicator(SFI) to the UE. The SFI may indicate the transmission direction foreach of the plurality of symbols included in one or more slots. The SFImay specify the transmission direction for 14 symbols of a first slot,e.g., as “uplink”, “downlink”, and/or “unknown”. In some embodiments,the BS may transmit a table to the UE specifying a plurality of sets oftransmission directions, where each set of transmission directionsspecifies the transmission direction of at least one slot. Accordingly,the SFI may refer to a table entry of the table that specifies orotherwise indicates one of the sets of transmission directions. Notethat the table may have been previously transmitted by the BS (e.g.,prior to transmitting the SFI), by a different BS or other entity of thewireless network, and/or may have simply been stored by the UE at adifferent time.

In some embodiments, the BS may be configured to determine thetransmission direction for symbols of a plurality of slots and the SFImay indicate the transmission direction for the symbols for more thanone slot at a time. For example, the SFI may indicate the transmissiondirections for a first slot, a second slot, or n slots. Thesetransmission directions may be the same or different for each of theslots. For example, the transmission directions may be the same for thefirst slot and the second slot indicated by a single SFI. Alternatively,the transmission directions may be different between the first slot andthe second slot, even though both are indicated by the single SFI. Insome embodiments, the single SFI may refer to an entry of the tablediscussed above, and the table entry may indicate a plurality of singleslot formats (e.g., corresponding to each respective slot specified bythe table entry) for the plurality of slots.

The BS and the UE may perform communication during the one or more slotsaccording to the determined transmission direction.

Note that the determination and/or transmission of the SFI may beperformed in a periodic manner. For example, the SFI may be transmittedperiodically every n slots, where n could be any desired value (e.g., 1,2, 3, 5, 10, etc.). Additionally, or alternatively, the SFI may bedetermined or updated in a dynamic fashion, based on different events orsituations. For example, the SFI may be in effect until it is updated bya new SFI, e.g., transmitted by the BS. In some embodiments, the SFI maybe transmitted one or more symbols (e.g., a plurality of symbols) beforethe one or more slots indicated by the SFI. For example, the SFI may betransmitted for a future slot in order to ensure the UE can be preparedfor the transmission directions indicated by the SFI for the slot(s)indicated by the SFI.

Note that the techniques described herein may be implemented in and/orused with a number of different types of devices, including but notlimited to, base stations, access points, cellular phones, portablemedia players, tablet computers, wearable devices, and various othercomputing devices.

This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present embodiments can be obtained whenthe following detailed description of the preferred embodiment isconsidered in conjunction with the following drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communicationsystem, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary base station in communication with anexemplary wireless user equipment (UE) device, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a UE, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a base station,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates exemplary TDD configurations, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary UL and DL reference configurations,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary corresponding frame structure from FIG.6 , according to some embodiments;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary TDD frame structure, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 9 illustrates various exemplary uplink-centric slot formats,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 10 illustrates various exemplary downlink-centric slot formats,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 11 illustrates exemplary slot aggregation, according to someembodiments;

FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate examples of slot aggregation, according tosome embodiments;

FIGS. 14A and 14B correspond to SFI for downlink, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 15 illustrates SFI for blank slots, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 16 illustrates two exemplary states of SFI, according to someembodiments;

FIGS. 17-19 illustrate dynamic configuration of slots, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 20 illustrates exemplary fields of SFI, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 21 illustrates UL slot aggregation, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 22 illustrates DL slot aggregation, according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 23-28 illustrate exemplary implementations for PDSCH, according tosome embodiments;

FIGS. 29 and 30 are exemplary methods for operating a base station and aUE, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 31 illustrates exemplary provision of SFI having a 5 slot period,according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 32A-32N illustrate 14 symbol, non-repeating possibilities forslots, according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 33A-33E illustrate 7 symbol, repeating combination possibilitiesfor slots, according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 34A-34U illustrate 7 symbol, non-repeating combinationpossibilities for slots, according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 35A-35G illustrate 7 symbol possibilities, according to someembodiments;

FIGS. 36-38 illustrate exemplary SFI index and formats corresponding toFIGS. 32A-35G, according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 39-41 illustrate exemplary UE SFI index tables, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 42 illustrates exemplary provision of SFI having a five slot periodwith a one slot offset, according to some embodiments; and

FIG. 43 is a flowchart diagram illustrating an exemplary method of usingSFI between a BS and a UE, according to some embodiments.

While embodiments described herein susceptible to various modificationsand alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should beunderstood, however, that the drawings and detailed description theretoare not intended to limit the embodiments to the particular formdisclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the present embodiments as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Acronyms

-   -   ARQ: Automatic Repeat Request    -   DCI: Downlink Control Information    -   DL: Downlink    -   gNB: gNodeB    -   LTE: Long Term Evolution    -   NW: Network    -   NR: New Radio    -   PCFICH: Physical Control Format Indicator Channel    -   PDCCH: Physical Downlink Control Channel    -   PDSCH: Physical Downlink Shared Channel    -   PHICH: Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator Channel    -   PUCCH: Physical Uplink Control Channel    -   PUSCH: Physical Uplink Shared Channel    -   RNTI: Radio Network Temporary Identifier    -   RRC: Radio Resource Control    -   SIB: System Information Block.    -   SIBn: System Information Block Type n    -   SL: Side Link    -   TDD: Time Division Duplex.    -   TTI: Transmit Time Interval    -   UE: User Equipment    -   UL: Uplink        Terminology

The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices orstorage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include aninstallation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; acomputer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM,SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash,magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, orother similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium mayinclude other types of non-transitory memory as well or combinationsthereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a firstcomputer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located ina second different computer system which connects to the first computersystem over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, thesecond computer system may provide program instructions to the firstcomputer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or morememory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., indifferent computer systems that are connected over a network. The memorymedium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computerprograms) that may be executed by one or more processors.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Programmable Hardware Element—includes various hardware devicescomprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via aprogrammable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field ProgrammableGate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (FieldProgrammable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmablefunction blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or lookup tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processorcores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as“reconfigurable logic”.

Computer System—any of various types of computing or processing systems,including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system,workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digitalassistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or otherdevice or combinations of devices. In general, the term “computersystem” can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combinationof devices) having at least one processor that executes instructionsfrom a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems devices which are mobile or portable and which performs wirelesscommunications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones orsmart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones), portable gamingdevices (e.g., Nintendo DS™ Play Station Portable™, Gameboy Advance™,iPhone™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g., smart watch, smart glasses),PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, orother handheld devices, etc. In general, the term “UE” or “UE device”can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/ortelecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is easilytransported by a user and capable of wireless communication.

Base Station—The term “Base Station” has the full breadth of itsordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication stationinstalled at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of awireless telephone system or radio system.

Processing Element—refers to various elements or combinations ofelements. Processing elements include, for example, circuits such as anASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), portions or circuits ofindividual processor cores, entire processor cores, individualprocessors, programmable hardware devices such as a field programmablegate array (FPGA), and/or larger portions of systems that includemultiple processors.

Channel—a medium used to convey information from a sender (transmitter)to a receiver. It should be noted that since characteristics of the term“channel” may differ according to different wireless protocols, the term“channel” as used herein may be considered as being used in a mannerthat is consistent with the standard of the type of device withreference to which the term is used. In some standards, channel widthsmay be variable (e.g., depending on device capability, band conditions,etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, WLAN channels may be 22 MHz wide whileBluetooth channels may be 1 Mhz wide. Other protocols and standards mayinclude different definitions of channels. Furthermore, some standardsmay define and use multiple types of channels, e.g., different channelsfor uplink or downlink and/or different channels for different uses suchas data, control information, etc.

Band—The term “band” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, andat least includes a section of spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum)in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thusthe term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

FIGS. 1 and 2 —Communication System

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communicationsystem, according to one embodiment. It is noted that the system of FIG.1 is merely one example of a possible system, and embodiments may beimplemented in any of various systems, as desired.

As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a basestation 102A which communicates over a transmission medium with one ormore user devices 106A, 106B, etc., through 106N. Each of the userdevices may be referred to herein as a “user equipment” (UE). Thus, theuser devices 106 are referred to as UEs or UE devices.

The base station 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cellsite, and may include hardware that enables wireless communication withthe UEs 106A through 106N. The base station 102A may also be equipped tocommunicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellularservice provider, a telecommunication network such as a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN), and/or the Internet, among variouspossibilities). Thus, the base station 102A may facilitate communicationbetween the user devices and/or between the user devices and the network100.

The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station may bereferred to as a “cell.” The base station 102A and the UEs 106 may beconfigured to communicate over the transmission medium using any ofvarious radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wirelesscommunication technologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM,UMTS (WCDMA, TD-SCDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000(e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, WiMAX, New Radio (NR), etc.

Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations102B . . . 102N) operating according to the same or a different cellularcommunication standard may thus be provided as a network of cells, whichmay provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs106A-N and similar devices over a wide geographic area via one or morecellular communication standards.

Thus, while base station 102A may provide a “serving cell” for UEs106A-N as illustrated in FIG. 1 , each UE 106 may also be capable ofreceiving signals from (and possibly within communication range of) oneor more other cells (which might be provided by base stations 102B-Nand/or any other base stations), which may be referred to as“neighboring cells”. Such cells may also be capable of facilitatingcommunication between user devices and/or between user devices and thenetwork 100. Such cells may include “macro” cells, “micro” cells, “pico”cells, and/or cells which provide any of various other granularities ofservice area size. For example, base stations 102A-B illustrated in FIG.1 might be macro cells, while base station 102N might be a micro cell.Other configurations are also possible.

Note that a UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiplewireless communication standards. For example, a UE 106 may beconfigured to communicate using a wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi)and/or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocol (e.g., BT, Wi-Fipeer-to-peer, etc.) in addition to at least one cellular communicationprotocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TD-SCDMA), LTE, LTE-A, HSPA, 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc.), NR. The UE 106 mayalso or alternatively be configured to communicate using one or moreglobal navigational satellite systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), oneor more mobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H orDVB-H), and/or any other wireless communication protocol, if desired.Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including morethan two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

FIG. 2 illustrates user equipment 106 (e.g., one of the devices 106Athrough 106N) in communication with a base station 102 (e.g., one of thebase stations 102A through 102N), according to one embodiment. The UE106 may be a device with cellular communication capability such as amobile phone, a hand-held device, a wearable device, a computer or atablet, or virtually any type of wireless device.

The UE 106 may include a processor that is configured to execute programinstructions stored in memory. The UE 106 may perform any of the methodembodiments described herein by executing such stored instructions.Alternatively, or in addition, the UE 106 may include a programmablehardware element such as an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) that isconfigured to perform any of the method embodiments described herein, orany portion of any of the method embodiments described herein.

The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using oneor more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In oneembodiment, the UE 106 might be configured to communicate using eitherof CDMA2000 (1×RTT/1×EV-DO/HRPD/eHRPD) or LTE using a single sharedradio and/or GSM or LTE using the single shared radio. The shared radiomay couple to a single antenna, or may couple to multiple antennas(e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. In general, aradio may include any combination of a baseband processor, analog RFsignal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers,oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digital processing circuitry (e.g.,for digital modulation as well as other digital processing). Similarly,the radio may implement one or more receive and transmit chains usingthe aforementioned hardware. For example, the UE 106 may share one ormore parts of a receive and/or transmit chain between multiple wirelesscommunication technologies, such as those discussed above.

In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include separate (and possiblymultiple) transmit and/or receive chains (e.g., including separate RFand/or digital radio components) for each wireless communicationprotocol with which it is configured to communicate. As a furtherpossibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radios which are sharedbetween multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or moreradios which are used exclusively by a single wireless communicationprotocol. For example, the UE 106 might include a shared radio forcommunicating using either of LTE, 1×RTT, and NR (or LTE or GSM), andseparate radios for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.Other configurations are also possible.

FIG. 3 —Exemplary Block Diagram of a UE

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a UE 106, according toone embodiment. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on chip (SOC)300, which may include portions for various purposes. For example, asshown, the SOC 300 may include processor(s) 302 which may executeprogram instructions for the UE 106 and display circuitry 304 which mayperform graphics processing and provide display signals to the display360. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled to memory management unit(MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive addresses from theprocessor(s) 302 and translate those addresses to locations in memory(e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory 310)and/or to other circuits or devices, such as the display circuitry 304,wireless communication circuitry 330, connector I/F 320, and/or display360. The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and pagetable translation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may beincluded as a portion of the processor(s) 302.

As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE106. For example, the UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g.,including NAND flash 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., for couplingto a computer system, dock, charging station, etc.), the display 360,and wireless communication circuitry (e.g., radio) 330 (e.g., for LTE,Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.).

The UE device 106 may include at least one antenna (and possiblymultiple antennas, e.g., for MIMO and/or for implementing differentwireless communication technologies, among various possibilities), forperforming wireless communication with base stations and/or otherdevices. For example, the UE device 106 may use antenna(s) 335 toperform the wireless communication. As noted above, the UE 106 may beconfigured to communicate wirelessly using multiple wirelesscommunication standards in some embodiments.

As described further subsequently herein, the UE 106 may includehardware and software components for implementing features relating tothe use of the slot format indicator as variously described herein. Theprocessor 302 of the UE device 106 may be configured to implement partor all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing programinstructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory medium). In other embodiments, processor 302may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA(Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 302 ofthe UE device 106, in conjunction with one or more of the othercomponents 300, 304, 306, 310, 320, 330, 335, 340, 350, 360 may beconfigured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

FIG. 4 —Exemplary Block Diagram of a Base Station

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a base station 102,according to one embodiment. It is noted that the base station of FIG. 4is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the basestation 102 may include processor(s) 404 which may execute programinstructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 404 may also becoupled to memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured toreceive addresses from the processor(s) 404 and translate thoseaddresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory(ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices.

The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Thenetwork port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network andprovide a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106, access to thetelephone network as described above in FIGS. 1 and 2 .

The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also oralternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., acore network of a cellular service provider. The core network mayprovide mobility related services and/or other services to a pluralityof devices, such as UE devices 106. In some cases, the network port 470may couple to a telephone network via the core network, and/or the corenetwork may provide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devicesserviced by the cellular service provider).

The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and possiblymultiple antennas. The antenna(s) 434 may be configured to operate as awireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate withUE devices 106 via radio 430. The antenna 434 communicates with theradio 430 via communication chain 432. Communication chain 432 may be areceive chain, a transmit chain or both. The radio 430 may be configuredto communicate via various wireless telecommunication standards,including, but not limited to, NR, LTE, LTE-A, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi,etc.

The BS 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly using multiplewireless communication standards. In some instances, the base station102 may include multiple radios, which may enable the base station 102to communicate according to multiple wireless communicationtechnologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station 102 mayinclude a NR radio for performing communication according to NR as wellas a Wi-Fi radio for performing communication according to Wi-Fi. Insuch a case, the base station 102 may be capable of operating as both aNR base station and a Wi-Fi access point. As another possibility, thebase station 102 may include a multi-mode radio, which is capable ofperforming communications according to any of multiple wirelesscommunication technologies (e.g., NR and Wi-Fi; NR and LTE; LTE andCDMA2000; UMTS and GSM; etc.).

As described further subsequently herein, the BS 102 may includehardware and software components for implementing features relating tothe use of the slot format indicator as variously described herein.

The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implementpart or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing programinstructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory medium).

Alternatively, the processor 404 may be configured as a programmablehardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or asan ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or a combinationthereof. Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 404 of the BS 102,in conjunction with one or more of the other components 430, 432, 434,440, 450, 460, 470 may be configured to implement part or all of thefeatures described herein.

Group Common PDCCH

Group common PDCCH is a channel carrying information intended for agroup of user equipments (UEs). The qualifier “common” does notnecessarily imply common per cell.

Potential use cases for the group common PDCCH include:

(1) indicating slot format in dynamic TDD (UL, DL, SL, blank, etc.);

(2) indicating control resource set duration, in which case the UE candetermine whether some blind decodings can be skipped;

(3) indicating starting position of downlink data.

The physical channel structure of the group common PDCCH may be realizedusing a PCFICH like approach. Alternatively, the PDCCH design may bereused.

The network (NW) may configure a UE to monitor the group common PDCCHusing RRC signaling. In other words, the network may send RRC signal(s)to a UE to indicate whether the UE is to decode the group common PDCCHor not.

TDD Configuration in LTE

In LTE Release 8, the TDD configuration is defined to indicate thedirection of transmissions in each slot of a radio frame. (A radio framemay be 10 ms in duration.) Seven different TDD configurations weredefined, as shown in FIG. 5 . (The symbol D denotes downlink; S denotesspecial subframe for switching; U denotes uplink.)

eIMTA in LTE Release 12

eIMTA is an acronym for “enhanced Interference Mitigation and TrafficAdaptation”. In eIMTA, configuration could be changed dynamicallythrough the downlink control information (DCI).

In eIMTA, the TDD configuration in determined as follows. The TDD Framestructure is generated from combining an UL reference configuration anda DL reference configuration. An example of an UL referenceconfiguration and a DL reference configuration are shown in FIG. 6 .FIG. 7 shows the effective TDD frame structure resulting from theexample of FIG. 6 . F denotes a TTI that is either downlink (D) oruplink (U). In eIMTA, only a slot designated with F could be dynamicallychanged. The current configurations supported with the frame structureof FIG. 7 are 0,1,2,3,4,5.

The uplink reference configuration is semi-statically configured,obtained by the UE from SIB1. The uplink reference configuration is usedby non-eIMTA-capable devices, and is known as the “uplink-downlinkconfiguration” in an earlier release (˜R11). The uplink referenceconfiguration is an uplink heavy configuration. DL subframes in theuplink reference configuration are guaranteed to be DL: e.g., fortransmission of PHICH.

The downlink reference configuration is semi-statically configured,obtained by the UE from dedicated RRC signaling, specific toeIMTA-capable devices. UL subframes in this configuration is guaranteedto be UL: e.g., for HARQ feedback.

The current uplink-downlink configuration determines which subframes ofthe current frame are uplink and which are downlink. The currentuplink-downlink configuration is chosen from among 7 possibleconfigurations and within the limits set by flexible subframes obtainedfrom reference configurations. The current uplink-downlink configurationis broadcasted regularly to follow traffic variation. The currentuplink-downlink configuration is broadcasted using DCI format 1C onPDCCH to all eIMTA devices (using eIMTA-RNTI).

Flexible Slot Format Indicator in Dynamic TDD

In LTE, a slot may be a downlink slot (D), an uplink slot (U), a specialframe slot (S) or a flexible slot (F). FIG. 8 shows an example of a TDDframe structure including slots of each kind. The notation “S/D”indicates that the corresponding slot could be either S or D.

In NR, the slot format indicator (SFI) indicates whether a slot isdownlink (DL), uplink (UL), sidelink (SL), blank (reserved), etc. FIG. 8shows a slot format indicator (SFI) in an initial portion of an F slot.The SFI may override the transmission direction indicated by a currentTDD configuration of the frame. For example, if the current TDDconfiguration indicates that the F slot should be uplink, the SFI mayoverride the transmission direction to downlink. Thus, the SFI providesa dynamic override capability at the granularity of a slot.

In some embodiments, the SFI may be included only in F slots. In otherembodiments, an SFI may be included in any of the slots of the frame.

The slot format indicator (SFI) may be included in group common PDCCH.The SFI may signal the slot format at least for the current slot in adynamic TDD system. In some embodiments, the SFI may signal the slotformat for one or more consecutive slots including the current slot.

The SFI is common information delivered to a group of UEs. The SFI mayindicate whether the slot is UL, DL, SL, blank (reserved), etc.

The SFI is decodable by group of UEs, e.g., a group of UEs designated byRRC signaling.

In some embodiments, non-served UEs can use the received SFI to avoidunnecessary blind decodings, for power saving.

SFI Encoding Based on Table—SFI for UL

In some embodiments, the SFI may indicate any of the uplink-centric slotformats shown in FIG. 9 . These slot formats vary in aggregation level,i.e., the number of slots that are combined together to form acontinuous uplink region. The main use cases for these uplink-centricslot formats are PUSCH and/or PUCCH transmission.

UL-centric slots may include PDCCH for transmitting UL grants to UE.

UL aggregation level (AL), e.g., 1,2,3, . . . , may be encoded in SFI.

The SFI may signal UL slot aggregation, and accordingly, no PDCCH isincluded in any of the following slots.

When UL slot aggregation is indicated, non-served UEs can sleep throughthe uplink portion of the first slot and through all of the followingslot(s). (A UE will determine from the PDCCH of the first slot whetheror not it is scheduled in the aggregated set of slots.) For example,when AL=3, the UE can sleep through the uplink portion of the first slotand through all of the second and third slots.

SFI Encoding Based on Table—SFI for DL

In some embodiments, the SFI may indicate any of the downlink-centricformats shown in FIG. 10 . These downlink-centric formats are for thecurrent slot, i.e., the slot which contains the SFI. The SFI may betransmitted in every downlink slot. The main use cases for thesedownlink-centric formats are PDSCH transmission, with and without slotaggregation.

The SFI for DL may not encode aggregation level (AL) since the SFI maybe sent in every DL slot, and DL aggregation is signaled UE-specificallyin the downlink control information (DCI).

Some of the states of the SFI for DL may indicate the presence of PDCCHin the PDCCH region. Other states indicate that PDCCH is not present.

Examples of SFI and DL Slot Aggregation

FIG. 11 shows an example of slot aggregation, where additionalscheduling in the middle of the aggregation is allowed, by virtue of thePDCCH that is included in the PDCCH region of the second slot. (In someembodiments, the PDCCH region of each slot may span the first OFDMsymbol of the slot.) Two slots are aggregated. Some UEs are scheduledwith Aggregation Level equal to 2. Furthermore, some UEs can bescheduled in the second slot, by virtue of the PDCCH in the second slot.Acknowledgements for DL data transmissions may be sent at the end ofsecond slot.

FIGS. 12 and 13 show examples of slot aggregation with no additionalscheduling in the middle of the aggregation. FIG. 12 shows an examplewhere two slots are aggregated; FIG. 13 shows an example where threeslots are aggregated. All the scheduled UEs may be scheduled from thefirst slot via the PDCCH of the first slot. In the provided example, noUE is scheduled from the second slot (or from any non-initial slot), sothere is no PDCCH in the second slot. Accordingly, a non-scheduled UEcan avoid making blind decoding attempts in search of PDCCH in thesecond slot (or in non-initial slots).

SFI for DL (Alternative Approach)

Alternatively, the SFI for DL could be defined on the assumption that noPDCCH region is allowed in non-initial slots of an aggregation. As shownin FIGS. 14A and 14B, only the initial slot includes a PDCCH region. (Insome embodiments, the PDCCH region may span the first OFDM symbol of theslot, and includes a group common PDCCH and a set of one or morePDCCHs.)

The SFI for DL, which may occur in the group common PDCCH of the PDCCHregion of the initial slot, may indicate the DL(-centric) slot formatfor all the aggregated slots (where AL>=1). The main use cases are PDSCHtransmission with and without slot aggregation. The SFI for DL doesindicate Aggregation Level (AL) since SFI could be sent only in theinitial DL slot.

SFI for Blank(Reserved)/Side Link (SL)

In some embodiments, some of the states of the SFI may be used forindicating a blank slot that is used for forward compatibility, as shownin FIG. 15 . A base station may not transmit or receive signal whichlegacy UE understands during a blank region of the slot, e.g., duringthe set complement of resource elements containing the SFI (orcontaining the group common PDCCH). Similarly, a legacy UE device maypower down its transmitter and receiver during a blank region of theslot. Base stations and UEs operating according to future standards (orfuture versions of a current standard) might transmit during this slot,e.g., NR phase II systems. AL is encoded in the SFI. Thus, a pluralityof slots may be aggregated to form a blank region that continuouslycovers more than one slot.

In some embodiments, one or more of the states of the SFI may be used toindicate that side link (SL) transmission is enabled, e.g., asillustrated in FIG. 15 with format index 13. A side link transmission isa device-to-device transmission (e.g., UE to UE, or vehicle to vehicle,etc.).

DL and UL Combination

In some embodiments, some of the states of the SFI may be used toindicate a combination of downlink and uplink transmission covering twoor more consecutive slots. For example, FIG. 16 illustrates two statesof the SFI, each indicating a two slot combination of downlink anduplink, with the ratio of DL to UL being 1. The format index 14 mayindicate that PDCCH is included in the PDCCH region. The format index 15may indicate that PDCCH is not included in the PDCCH region.

Dynamic Time Division Duplex (TDD)

The SFI may be sent in a slot where dynamic change of transmissiondirection is supported or allowed. For example, as illustrated in FIG.17 , a slot that is designated as a downlink slot by the current TDDconfiguration may be dynamically changed to an uplink slot by settingthe SFI of the slot to an appropriate value of the format index. Thisimplies that in at least some embodiments the transmission direction ofa slot without an SFI cannot be changed.

If there is no SFI in a slot (e.g., UL only), the transmit direction ofthe slot may be determined by the most recently transmitted SFI.

For the base station (e.g., gNB), the degree of dynamicity andefficiency depends on how often SFI is sent. For example, FIG. 18illustrates a very dynamic scenario while FIG. 19 illustrates a lessdynamic scenario.

SFI Based on Generalized Format

In some embodiments, the slot format indicator (SFI) may indicate bothaggregation levels and number of symbols for all possible formats:downlink only, uplink centric, DL-UL combination. As shown in FIG. 20 ,the SFI may have five fields. Two of the fields define the length of adownlink region. Two of the fields define the length of an uplinkregion. One of the fields defines the length of a gap region between thedownlink region and the uplink region. The boundaries between slots arenot required to occur that slot boundaries.

In some embodiments, the gap region is assumed to occupy at most onewhole slot. Thus, in these embodiments, only a number of symbols isneeded to specify the length of the gap region.

The downlink region may occur after (e.g., immediately after) the PDCCHregion of the initial slot of the aggregated set of slots. (The PDCCHregion is illustrated in FIG. 20 as the column of alternating elementscovering the first OFDM symbol.) In some embodiments, the gap region mayfollow immediately after the downlink region. The uplink region mayfollow immediately after the gap region.

In some embodiments, the SFI includes the following five fields:

-   -   number N_(DL) of DL slots;    -   number of DL symbols in the (N_(DL)+1)^(th) slot;    -   number of guard symbols in the (N_(DL)+1)^(th) slot;    -   number of uplink symbols in the (N_(DL)+1)^(th) slot; and    -   number of uplink slots.

In embodiments where the UE knows in advance the symbol length of eachslot, only two of the middle three numbers (from the list above) mayneed to be included in the SFI. Various embodiments describe at leastthree realizations of the SFI corresponding respectively to threepossible ways of selected two numbers from the middle three numbers.

Note that this generalized format (or signaling method) may be used forsemi-static DL/UL assignment (e.g., TDD configuration in LTE terms) asshown in FIG. 5 .

Scheduling with SFI

In some embodiments, the base station (e.g., gNB) can signal slotaggregation semi-statically or dynamically.

In UL slot aggregation, e.g., as shown in FIG. 21 , PDCCH is preferablynot transmitted in the middle of aggregation, i.e., in the non-initialslot(s) (e.g., the transmission of a PDCCH in a non-initial slot mayrequire the insertion of a gap region to transition back to uplinktransmission.)

In DL, PDCCH could be allowed in the middle of an aggregation, e.g., asshown in FIG. 22 . The PDSCH of a UE1 is scheduled in the first slot andlasts until the end of the aggregated slot (i.e., the second slot). In afirst option, a single PDCCH in the first slot could indicate the PDSCHfor UE1 in every slot. In a second option, a PDCCH in each slotindependently schedules PDSCH for UE1 in that slot. The PDSCH of a UE2is scheduled in the first slot only. The PDSCH of a UE3 is scheduled inthe second slot only.

Rate Matching in PDCCH Region

In some embodiments, when a PDSCH is scheduled over multiple aggregatedslots, the PDSCH is never mapped at into PDCCH region (or controlresource set). In other words, elements of the PDSCH may not be allowedto be transmitted in the PDCCH region. In FIGS. 23 and 24 , note thatthe PDSCH for UE1 may never occur in the PDCCH region (the first OFDMsymbol) of any slot.

In other embodiments, when a PDSCH is scheduled over multiple aggregatedslots, the PDSCH is not mapped into PDCCH region (or control resourceset), as shown in FIG. 25 . However, as shown in FIG. 26 , if there isno PDCCH scheduled in a non-first slot, then the SFI in the non-firstslot may signal that there is no PDCCH in the PDCCH region of thenon-first slot, and the PDSCH for UE1 could be mapped at least partiallyinto the PDCCH region of the non-first slot, to minimize waste of timefrequency resources.

SFI for Slots of Various Different Lengths

In some embodiments, the same slot format indicator could be used incontexts where the slots are seven symbols in length and contexts werethe slots are 14 symbols in length.

For uplink (UL), shown in FIG. 27 , the number of symbols for PDCCH andthe length of gap is known. Thus, the number of UL symbols may becalculated, e.g., based on the equation:No. of UL symbols=Symbol length of slot−gap length−PDCCH length.

For downlink (DL), shown in FIG. 28 , since the SFI indicates the numberof UL symbols (if an uplink region exists within the slot), it isstraight forward to compute the number of DL symbols for DL(-centric)slots, e.g., based on the equation:No. of DL symbols=Symbol length of slot−(gap length+number of ULsymbols)(UL Present=True)

In some embodiments, the SFI could be transmitted in mini-slots, todynamically indicate the direction of each SFI-containing mini-slot.

In one set of embodiments, a method 2900 for operating a base stationmay include the operations shown in FIG. 29 .

At 2910, the method may include transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a first slot format indicator (SFI) within a first slot of aradio frame. The first SFI may indicate a first transmission directionfor at least a first portion of the first slot. In some embodiments, thefirst transmit direction may either be uplink transmission or downlinktransmission. The SFI may be included in a group common PDCCH of a PDCCHregion of the first slot. The PDCCH region may span the first N symboldurations of the first slot, where N is greater than or equal to one. Insome embodiments, the integer N is equal to one.

The first SFI may indicates that the PDCCH region includes at least onePDCCH. Alternatively, the first SFI may indicate that the PDCCH regiondoes not include a PDCCH, and thus, a UE may save power by notattempting to decode (or search for) a PDCCH.

In some embodiments, the first SFI also indicates a second transmitdirection for a second portion of the first slot, wherein the secondtransmit direction is a direction opposite to the first transmitdirection. For example, the first portion may be a downlink portion andthe second portion may be an uplink portion.

In some embodiments, the first SFI also indicates a second transmitdirection for at least a portion of a second slot, wherein the secondslot follows immediately after the first slot, wherein the secondtransmit direction is a direction opposite to the first transmitdirection.

In some embodiments, when the first transmit direction is uplinktransmission, the first SFI may indicate a slot aggregation level forthe uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, when the first transmit direction is downlinktransmission, an extent of slot aggregation for the downlinktransmission may be indicated in a DCI of a radio frame containing thefirst slot.

In some embodiments, when the first transmit direction is downlinktransmission, the first SFI may indicate a slot aggregation level forthe downlink transmission.

The SFI could be divided into two parts (transmission direction andaggregation level), and encoded separately.

In some embodiments, the method may also include transmitting, by theradio, a second SFI in a second slot of the radio frame, wherein thesecond slot follows immediately after the first slot. The second SFI mayindicate a second transmit direction for at least a portion of thesecond slot. The second transmit direction is either uplink transmissionor downlink transmission. The second SFI may be included in a groupcommon PDCCH of a PDCCH region of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the second SFI may indicate that the PDCCH regionof the second slot does not include a PDCCH.

In some embodiments, the method may also include transmitting, by theradio of the base station, a second SFI in a second slot of the radioframe, wherein the second SFI indicates that at least a portion of thesecond slot is blank, wherein the second SFI is included in a groupcommon PDCCH of a PDCCH region of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the method may also include transmitting, by theradio, a second SFI in a second slot of the radio frame, wherein thesecond SFI indicates that at least a portion of the second slot is to beused for a side link (such as UE to UE, or V2X), wherein the second SFIis included in a group common PDCCH of a PDCCH region of the secondslot.

In some embodiments, the slot may be two or 7 or 14 symbols in length.

In one set of embodiments, a method 3000 for operating a user equipment(UE) device may include the operations shown in FIG. 30 .

At 3010, a radio of the UE device may receive a first slot formatindicator (SFI) from a first slot of a radio frame, wherein the firstSFI indicates a first transmission direction for at least a firstportion of the first slot, wherein the first transmit direction iseither uplink or downlink. The SFI is included in a group common PDCCHof a PDCCH region of the first slot, wherein the PDCCH region spans thefirst N symbol durations of the first slot, wherein N is greater than orequal to one.

In some embodiments, the method may also include performing uplinktransmission or downlink reception in the first portion of the firstslot based on the first transmission direction. In other words, the UEradio performs uplink transmission if the first transmission directionis uplink, and performs downlink reception if the first transmissiondirection is downlink.

In some embodiments, the integer N is equal to one.

In some embodiments, the method may also include: in response todetermining that the SFI indicates the PDCCH region of the first slotincludes at least one PDCCH, decoding (or attempting to decode) thePDCCH from the PDCCH region.

In some embodiments, the method may also include: in response todetermining that the first SFI indicates the PDCCH region does notinclude a PDCCH, omitting an attempt to decode PDCCH information fromthe PDCCH region.

In some embodiments, the method may also include: in response todetermining that the first SFI indicates a second transmit direction fora second portion of the first slot, performing downlink reception oruplink transmission in the second portion of the first slot based onsecond transmit direction, wherein the second transmit direction is adirection opposite to the first transmit direction.

In some embodiments, the first SFI also indicates a second transmitdirection for at least a portion of a second slot, wherein the secondslot follows immediately after the first slot, wherein the secondtransmit direction is a direction opposite to the first transmitdirection.

In some embodiments, the first transmit direction is uplinktransmission, wherein the first SFI indicates a slot aggregation levelfor uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the first transmit direction is downlinktransmission, wherein an extent of slot aggregation for the downlinktransmission is indicated in a DCI of a radio frame containing the firstslot.

In some embodiments, the first transmit direction is downlinktransmission, wherein the first SFI indicates a slot aggregation levelfor downlink transmission.

The SFI could be divided into two parts (transmission direction andaggregation level), and encoded separately.

In some embodiments, the method may also include receiving, by the radioof the UE device, a second SFI in a second slot of the radio frame,wherein the second slot follows immediately after the first slot,wherein the second SFI indicates a second transmit direction for atleast a portion of the second slot, wherein the second transmitdirection is either uplink transmission or downlink transmission,wherein the second SFI is included in a group common PDCCH of a PDCCHregion of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the method may also include: in response todetermining that the second SFI indicates the PDCCH region of the secondslot does not include a PDCCH, saving power by making no attempt todecode PDCCH information from the PDCCH region of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the method may also include; receiving, by theradio of the UE device, a second SFI in a second slot of the radioframe; and in response to determining that the second SFI indicates thatat least a portion of the second slot is blank, disabling uplinktransmission or downlink reception in said at least a portion of thesecond slot, wherein the second SFI is included in a group common PDCCHof a PDCCH region of the second slot

In some embodiments, the method may also include: receiving, by theradio, a second SFI in a second slot of the radio frame, performing aside link transmission in at least a portion of the second slot inresponse to determining that the second SFI indicates said at least aportion is to be used for a side link, wherein the second SFI isincluded in a group common PDCCH of a PDCCH region of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the slots are two or 7 or 14 symbols in length.

FIG. 31 —Periodic SFI

As shown in FIG. 31 , an SFI may be sent periodically by the network toindicate slot formats for one or more slots. As described in more detailbelow, the SFI may refer to a value (e.g., an index of a UE tableconfigured for or provided to the UE). The value may indicate one ormore sets of directions for symbols, each set corresponding to a slot.In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 31 , the value refers to a table fora monitoring period of 5 slots, where the SFI is provided every fiveslots. For example, in the embodiment shown, the provided SFI value forthe first monitoring period is 1, which may refer to format of 14 foreach of the first four slots and 4 for the final slot. In the secondperiod, the provided SFI value may be 2, indicating a format of 14 forthe first three slots and 4 for the final two slots. In the thirdperiod, the provided SFI may have a value of 3, indicating a format of14 for the first two slots and 4 for the final 3. In some embodiments,this exemplary period and values may correspond to the exemplary UEtable of FIG. 41 .

In order to provide the SFI values in an efficient way, thepossibilities of the directions of each symbol in a slot may beenumerated. For example, in embodiments where the number of symbols in aslot is 14, the possibilities may be enumerated according to 14 symbolpossibilities and/or 7 symbol possibilities (e.g., which may be combinedto generate 14 symbol possibilities.

Where 14 symbol possibilities are enumerated, the total number ofsymbols is 14. There may be X number of downlink (DL) symbols, Y numberof unknown (U) symbols, and Z number of uplink (UL) symbols, whereX+Y+Z=14.

FIGS. 32A-32N illustrate the 14-slot possibilities having 0 or 1switching points, no repetition and a varying number of unknown symbols.In particular, FIG. 32A illustrates the possibilities (A1-A3) for 14symbols, 0 switching, 0 unknown symbols, and no repetition (assumed forthe remainder of FIGS. 32A-32N). Thus, there are three possibilities:all DL (format A1), all U (format A2), and all UL (format A3). FIG. 32Billustrates the possibilities (formats A4-A17) for 14 symbols, 1switching, and 1 unknown. Note that the unknown symbols may provide abuffer when switching from DL to UL (e.g., for UE transitioning),although such a buffer may not be necessary when switching from UL toDL. FIG. 32C illustrates the possibilities (formats A18-A30) for 14symbols, 1 switching, and 2 unknown. FIG. 32D illustrates thepossibilities (formats A31-A42) for 14 symbols, 1 switching, and 3unknown. FIG. 32E illustrates the possibilities (formats A43-A53) for 14symbols, 1 switching, and 4 unknown. FIG. 32F illustrates thepossibilities (formats A54-A63) for 14 symbols, 1 switching, and 5unknown. FIG. 32G illustrates the possibilities (formats A64-A72) for 14symbols, 1 switching, and 6 unknown. FIG. 32H illustrates thepossibilities (formats A73-A80) for 14 symbols, 1 switching, and 7unknown. FIG. 32I illustrates the possibilities (formats A81-A87) for 14symbols, 1 switching, and 8 unknown. FIG. 32J illustrates thepossibilities (formats A88-A93) for 14 symbols, 1 switching, and 9unknown. FIG. 32K illustrates the possibilities (formats A94-A98) for 14symbols, 1 switching, and 10 unknown. FIG. 32L illustrates thepossibilities (formats A99-A120) for 14 symbols, 1 switching, and 11unknown. FIG. 32M illustrates the possibilities (formats A103-A105) for14 symbols, 1 switching, and 12 unknown. FIG. 32N illustrates thepossibilities (formats A106-A107) for 14 symbols, 1 switching, and 13unknown.

FIGS. 33A-33E illustrate the 14-slot possibilities using repeating7-slots (two switching points) and a varying number of unknown symbols.In particular, FIG. 33A illustrates the possibilities (formats B1-B5)for 14 symbols, 2 switching, and 2 unknown. FIG. 33B illustrates thepossibilities (formats B6-B9) for 14 symbols, 2 switching, and 4unknown. FIG. 33C illustrates the possibilities (formats B10-B12) for 14symbols, 2 switching, and 6 unknown. FIG. 33D illustrates thepossibilities (formats B13-B14) for 14 symbols, 2 switching, and 8unknown. FIG. 33E illustrates the possibility (format B15) for 14symbols, 2 switching, and 10 unknown. As noted above, in these Figures,there is no buffer U symbol when switching from UL to DL, although suchpossibilities are also envisioned.

FIGS. 34A-34U illustrate the 14-slot possibilities having 2 switchingpoints (two sets of 7 symbols) and without repetition. In particular,FIGS. 34A-34F illustrate the possibilities (formats C1-C25) for 14symbols, 2 switching, and 2 unknown. FIGS. 34G-34K illustrate thepossibilities (formats C26-C46) for 14 symbols, 2 switching, and 4unknown. FIGS. 34L-340 illustrate the possibilities (formats C47-059)for 14 symbols, 2 switching, and 6 unknown. FIGS. 34P-34R illustrate thepossibilities (formats C60-C66) for 14 symbols, 2 switching, and 8unknown. FIGS. 34S-34T illustrate the possibilities (formats C67-C69)for 14 symbols, 2 switching, and 10 unknown. FIG. 34U illustrates thepossibility (format C70) for 14 symbols, 2 switching, and 12 unknown. Asnoted above, in these Figures, there is no buffer U symbol whenswitching from UL to DL, although such possibilities are alsoenvisioned.

FIGS. 35A-35G illustrate the 7-slot possibilities (which can be combinedto form 14 slot possibilities) with 0 and 1 switching points and norepetition. Similar to the 14 slot possibilities, the total number ofsymbols are 7; accordingly, X is the number of DL symbols, Y is thenumber of unknown symbols, and Z is the number of UL symbols, soX+Y+Z=7. FIG. 35A illustrates the possibilities (D1-D3) for 7 symbolsand 0 switching. FIG. 35B illustrates the possibilities (D4-D10) for 7symbols, 1 switching, and 1 unknown. FIG. 35C illustrates thepossibilities (D4-D10) for 7 symbols, 1 switching, and 2 unknown. FIG.35D illustrates the possibilities (D11-D16) for 7 symbols, 1 switching,and 3 unknown. FIG. 35E illustrates the possibilities (D22-D25) for 7symbols, 1 switching, and 4 unknown. FIG. 35F illustrates thepossibilities (D26-D28) for 7 symbols, 1 switching, and 5 unknown. FIG.35G illustrates the possibilities (D29-D30) for 7 symbols, 1 switching,and 6 unknown.

FIGS. 36-38 —Single Slot Formats

The various enumerated possibilities discussed above may be used tospecify single slot formats (e.g., having 14 OFDM symbols). For example,FIG. 36 illustrates a first manner of enumerating single slot formats,based on 14-symbol formats only (e.g., corresponding to FIGS. 32A-34U.In this case, a single slot format index (starting at index 0 andproceeding to index 193) may specify the format by referring to theformat index shown in FIGS. 32A-34U. For example, in FIG. 36 , thesingle slot format index of 0 corresponds to format A1 of FIG. 32A (allDL). Similarly, index 111 refers to B3 of FIG. 33A (DL, DL, DL, U, UL,UL, UL, DL, DL, DL, U, UL, UL, UL).

As another possibility, FIG. 37 constructs the single slot format tablebased on both 14-symbols and 7-symbols formats. In particular, the firstpart of the table may correspond to formats in FIGS. 32A-N and secondpart correspond to formats in 35A-G (where 0-106 are the same as FIG. 36, but the remaining single slot formats (107-191 are specified ascombinations of the 7 slot formats of FIGS. 35A-G). For example, 191 ofFIG. 36 is specified as C70, which is the same as 191 of FIG. 37 ,specified as the combination of D29 and D30.

As a further possibility, the entire table may be specified ascombinations of 7 slot formats, as shown in FIG. 38 .

Note that these three Figures are exemplary only and other single slotformat tables are envisioned. In some embodiments, a table similar toone of these tables may be specified in a future 3GPP specification,e.g., corresponding to LTE or 5G NR.

FIGS. 39-41 —UE SFI Tables

UE tables may be constructed as a subset of a single slot formats table,such as one of those in FIGS. 36-38 . For example, the UE table mayselect a small number of single slot formats (or sets of single slotformats) that may be selected during transmission. In some embodiments,this table may be selected by the network (e.g., the base station) andprovided or indicated to the UE. The table may be the unique to each UE,apply to subsets of UEs, apply to all UEs, apply to different types ofUEs (e.g., where UEs of each of a particular vendor or model number havea different UE table), or other possibilities.

In some embodiments, each entry in UE (e.g., a user-specific) tablecould have a sequence of SFI index values which is for one or more ofslots. The size of this table may vary and may determine the bit lengthof the SFI (length(SFI)=ceil(log 2(size of UE table)). Accordingly, uponagreeing to use of such a table, the network may indicate one of the SFIindices in the UE table via SFI.

FIG. 39 illustrates an exemplary UE table for an SFI period of 1 slot.In this example, an SFI value of 0 indicates use of the single slotformat 0 (corresponding to A1 with all DL direction symbols) for anupcoming slot. As shown, however, the SFI value may specify more than asingle slot if desired, although other embodiments where only singleslot formats are provided for each UE table index value. In particular,in FIG. 39 , SFI values of 1-7 indicate multiple slot formats for morethan a single upcoming slot. For example, SFI 1 corresponds to usingslot format 5 (corresponding to A6) on two consecutive upcoming slots.SFI 3-6 specify the formats for 3 upcoming slots, and SFI 7 specifiesthe formats for 4 upcoming slots. In some embodiments, when multipleslots are specified, but a new SFI value is provided within a shorterperiod (e.g., in this case every slot), new values may be compatiblewith previously provided SFI values.

FIG. 40 illustrates an exemplary UE table for an SFI period of 2 slots.SFI values 0-2 specify the upcoming 2 slots, values 3-6 specify 4 slots,and value 7 is unused.

FIG. 41 illustrates an exemplary UE table for an SFI period of 5 slots.In this example, SFI values 0-5 specify 5 slots and values 6-7 specify10 slots.

FIG. 42 illustrates an exemplary SFI provision with an offset. In thisembodiment, the SFI value may be provided earlier than when the SFIvalue takes effect, e.g., by a known number of symbols or slots. Asshown in FIG. 42 , the SFI value is provided one slot before it takeseffect. For example, the SFI value 2 is provided at the beginning of the5^(th) slot to take effect on the 6^(th) slot. In this example, the SFIvalue 2 corresponds to the exemplary UE table of FIG. 41 , and indicatesthe corresponding 5 slots (6-10) will use the single slot formats 14(corresponding to A15), 14, 14, 4 (corresponding to A5), and 4.

Thus, in some embodiments, the SFI can be transmitted with timing offsetfrom the time it is applied to give enough time for the UE to decodeGC-PDCCH carrying SFI. This offset could be 0,1,2, . . . values and maybe RRC configured, among other possibilities.

Using SFI Values

In some embodiments, a UE is configured to monitor one or more CORESET(COntrol REsource SET) by RRC signaling. A CORESET may be configured ineither semi-statically assigned DL or Unknown resource. Accordingly, fora configured CORESET in a slot, if dynamic SFI is not available yet andnot mis-detected, then the UE may monitor the CORESET (e.g., for DLtransmissions). Similarly, if dynamic SFI indicates DL, then the UE maymonitor the CORESET.

In some embodiments, if dynamic SFI indicates Unknown, then the UE maybe supposed to monitor its CORESET(s). However, in other embodiments,the UE may be configured to ignore or not monitor CORESET in this case.

If dynamic SFI indicates UL, the UE may perform one of 1) not monitoringthe CORESET or 2) monitoring the CORESET, depending on the desiredbehavior.

In some cases, there may be errors in SFI detection or conflicts betweendifferent values (e.g., semi-static assignment, SFI, downlink controlinformation (DCI), among others). For example, the UE may treat anymis-detected SFI as indicating that the symbols are unknown. Followingthe embodiment above, when unknown, the UE may be configured to monitorCORESET.

According to various embodiments, when there are conflicts betweendifferent values in transmit direction, the UE may not transmit and/orreceive anything in the symbol or slot with the conflict. For example,this behavior may apply when: the semi-static assignment indicates DLfor a symbol and SFI indicates Unknown; the semi-static assignmentindicates UL and SFI indicates Unknown; the semi-static assignmentindicates DL and the SFI indicates UL; the semi-static assignmentindicates UL and the SFI indicates DL; the SFI indicates UL and the DCIindicates DL; the SFI indicates DL and the DCI indicates UL

FIG. 43 —Utilizing a Flexible Slot Indicator

FIG. 43 is a flowchart diagram illustrating apparatuses, systems, andmethods for utilizing a flexible slot indicator in wirelesscommunication. Aspects of the method of FIG. 43 may be implemented by awireless device, a base station, and/or a network, such as the UE 106,the BS 102, and/or the network 100 illustrated in and described withrespect to various of the Figures herein, or more generally inconjunction with any of the computer systems or devices shown in theabove Figures, among other devices, as desired. In various embodiments,some of the elements of the methods shown may be performed concurrently,in a different order than shown, may be substituted for by other methodelements, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also beperformed as desired. As shown, the method of FIG. 43 may operate asfollows.

In 4302, a base station (BS) may establish communication with a firstuser equipment device (UE). The BS and the UE may each include wirelesscommunication circuitry for performing wireless communication with eachother and/or other devices. Additionally, the BS and the UE may eachinclude one or more processing elements, e.g., that may execute programinstructions to operate the respective device.

In 4304, the BS may determine a transmission direction for each of aplurality of symbols included in one or more slots. The BS may determinethis transmission direction for the plurality of symbols in a dynamicfashion or a semi-static fashion, as desired. Additionally, thedetermination may be performed for a single UE, for a plurality of UEs,and/or all UEs in communication with the BS.

Based on the determination in 4304, in 4306, the BS may transmitinformation indicating the transmission direction for each of theplurality of symbols included in one or more slots (e.g., consecutiveslots). In some embodiments, this information may be a slot formatindicator (SFI), which is used for describing the information in theremainder of the flowchart for convenience, but the information is notlimited to only an SFI. The SFI may specify the transmission directionfor 14 symbols of a first slot, e.g., as “uplink”, “downlink”, and/or“unknown” (although “sidelink”, “flexible”, “special”, or “blank” arealso contemplated).

In some embodiments, the BS may transmit the SFI within a group commonPDCCH that may be decodable by one or more UEs (e.g., designated by RRCsignaling). The UEs that are not served may be able to use the SFI todetermine when decoding is not necessary (e.g., thereby avoiding blinddecodings) and reduce power consumption.

Note that the SFI may overwrite a previous indication or defaulttransmission direction for the plurality of symbols. For example, asymbol previously indicated as uplink may be overwritten to be downlinkvia the SFI. In some embodiments, only flexible, special, or unknownsymbols may be allowed to be overwritten, although in other embodimentsthis limited overwriting may not be true. Thus, according to someembodiments, the SFI may provide a dynamic override capability forpreviously indicated transmission direction configurations.

In some embodiments, the BS may transmit an SFI table to the UEspecifying a plurality of sets of transmission directions, where eachset of transmission directions specifies the transmission direction ofat least one slot. Accordingly, the SFI may refer to a table entry ofthe table that specifies or otherwise indicates one of the sets oftransmission directions. In some embodiments, a single set oftransmission directions (e.g., for a single slot) may be indicated bysingle slot format. The single slot format may be indicated by an indexvalue of a table of known single slot formats (e.g., specified by awireless standard such as LTE or NR). Thus, the SFI table may include aplurality of entries, each entry specifying one or more single slotformats, depending on the number of slots indicated by the entry in theSFI table. Note that the SFI table may have been previously transmittedby the BS (e.g., prior to transmitting the SFI), by a different BS orother entity of the wireless network, and/or may have simply been storedby the UE at a different time.

In some embodiments, the BS may be configured to determine thetransmission direction for symbols of a plurality of slots and the SFImay indicate the transmission direction for the symbols for more thanone slot at a time. For example, the SFI may indicate the transmissiondirections for a first slot, a second slot, or n slots. Thesetransmission directions may be the same or different for each of theslots. For example, the transmission directions may be the same for thefirst slot and the second slot indicated by a single SFI. Alternatively,the transmission directions may be different between the first slot andthe second slot, even though both are indicated by the single SFI. Insome embodiments, the single SFI may refer to an entry of the SFI tablediscussed above, and the table entry may indicate a plurality of singleslot formats (e.g., corresponding to each respective slot specified bythe table entry) for the plurality of slots. Thus, the SFI maycorrespond to an index value or table entry of the SFI table thatspecifies multiple single slot formats for multiple slots (e.g.,consecutive slots).

Note that the number of slots indicated by each entry in the table mayvary (e.g., a first index value may indicate a single slot format for asingle slot, but a second index value may indicate multiple single slotformats for a plurality of slots). For example, in one embodiment, anindex of the SFI table may be transmitted through the SFI field ofGC-PDCCH, e.g., every period. The SFI table may be flexible such that itcould include different length of slot formats in different entries. Forexample, SFI index 1 may indicate slot formats for the upcoming twoslots while SFI index 2 may indicate formats for the upcoming 4 slots.

In one embodiment, the SFI may have a generalized format indicating thenumber of DL slots, the number of DL symbols, the number of gaps, thenumber of UL symbols, and/or the number of UL slots together for a givenperiod. With these five (or possibly four with total period signaled)information signaled to UE, the UE may determine the slot formats (e.g.,the transmission directions of all the OFDM symbols) for the upcomingperiod. In some embodiments, this generalized format may be used forindicating the semi-static UL/DL transmission. For example, in oneembodiment, the SFI may include size parameters defining a partitioningof the plurality of slots into a downlink transmission region, a gapregion and an uplink region, wherein boundaries between said regions arespecified at a granularity of symbols. It should be noted that thisgeneralized format may be provided at other times (e.g., duringsemi-static configuration) and may be referred to as something otherthan SFI (e.g., the SFI may be used at a later period to modify thesemi-static configuration).

In 4306, the BS and the UE may perform communication during the one ormore slots according to the determined transmission direction indicatedby the SFI.

In some embodiments, when a UE detects a conflict between a previousconfiguration (e.g., specified in CORESET, DCI values, or any previousconfiguration of transmission direction) and the SFI for a symbol, itmay determine a behavior on symbol by symbol basis, depending on theparticular conflict. For example, when there is a conflict in atransmission direction (e.g., either the SFI or a previous configurationspecifies UE transmission during the symbol, but the other does not),the UE may be configured to not transmit (e.g., perform some otheraction or generally avoid transmission) during the symbol. Embodimentsof behaviors for conflicts are described above under the heading “UsingSFI Values”.

Note that the determination and/or transmission of the SFI may beperformed a plurality of times, e.g., in a periodic manner. For example,the SFI may be transmitted periodically every n slots, where n could beany desired value (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, etc.). Additionally, oralternatively, the SFI may be determined or updated in a dynamicfashion, based on different events or situations. For example, the SFImay be in effect until it is updated by a new SFI, e.g., transmitted bythe BS. In some embodiments, the SFI may be transmitted one or moresymbols (e.g., a plurality of symbols) before the one or more slotsindicated by the SFI. For example, the SFI may be transmitted for afuture slot in order to ensure the UE can be prepared for thetransmission directions indicated by the SFI for the slot(s) indicatedby the SFI.

Exemplary Embodiments

In the following further exemplary embodiments are provided.

One set of embodiments may include a method for operating a UE device,the method comprising: receiving, by a radio of the UE device,information identifying a base TDD configuration, wherein the base TDDconfiguration indicates base transmission directions associated withrespective slots in a radio frame; receiving, by a radio of the UEdevice, a slot format indicator (SFI) from a group common PDCCH in aPDCCH region of a given slot of the radio frame, wherein the SFIindicates that the base transmission direction associated with the givenslot is dynamically overridden to a new transmission direction oppositeto the base transmission direction; in response to receiving said SFI,performing uplink data transmission or downlink data reception in thegiven slot according to the new transmission direction.

In some embodiments, the base transmission direction for the given slotis uplink.

In some embodiments, the base transmission direction for the given slotis downlink.

One set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, information identifying a base TDD configuration, wherein thebase TDD configuration indicates base transmission directions associatedwith respective slots in a radio frame; transmitting, by a radio of thebase station, a slot format indicator (SFI) in a group common PDCCH in aPDCCH region of a given slot of the radio frame, wherein the SFIindicates that the base transmission direction associated with the givenslot is dynamically overridden to a new transmission direction oppositeto the base transmission direction; performing uplink data reception ordownlink data transmission in the given slot based on the newtransmission direction.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a UEdevice, the method comprising: receiving, by a radio of the UE device, aslot format indicator (SFI) from a group common PDCCH in a PDCCH regionof a given slot of a radio frame, wherein, for each symbol in the givenslot, the SFI determines a transmission direction for that symbol,wherein the PDCCH region spans the first N symbol durations of the givenslot.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a slot format indicator (SFI) in a group common PDCCH of aPDCCH region of a given slot of a radio frame, wherein, for each symbolin the given slot, the SFI determines a transmission direction for thatsymbol, wherein the PDCCH region spans the first N symbol durations ofthe given slot.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a UEdevice, the method comprising: receiving, by a radio of the UE device, aslot format indicator (SFI) from a group common PDCCH of a PDCCH regionof a given slot of a radio frame, wherein the SFI indicates that thegiven slot is a first slot in an aggregated set of one or more slots inthe radio frame, wherein the one or more slots are consecutive in time,wherein the SFI indicates the number of said one or more slots, whereinthe SFI also indicates whether the aggregated set of one or more slotsis reserved for future use or to be used for a side link transmissionbetween said UE device and another UE device.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a slot format indicator (SFI) in a group common PDCCH of aPDCCH region of a given slot of a radio frame, wherein the SFI indicatesthat the given slot is a first slot in an aggregated set of one or moreslots in the radio frame, wherein the one or more slots are consecutivein time, wherein the SFI indicates the number of said one or more slots,wherein the SFI also indicates whether the aggregated set of one or moreslots is reserved for future use or to be used for a side linktransmission between UE devices.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a UEdevice, the method comprising: receiving, by a radio of the UE device, aslot format indicator (SFI) from a group common PDCCH of a PDCCH regionof a given slot of a radio frame, wherein the SFI indicates that thegiven slot is a first slot in an aggregated set of one or more slots inthe radio frame, wherein the one or more slots are consecutive in time,wherein the SFI indicates the number of said one or more slots, wherein,for each symbol in the aggregated set of one or more slots, the SFIdetermines a transmission direction for the symbol.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a slot format indicator (SFI) in a group common PDCCH of aPDCCH region of a given slot of a radio frame, wherein the SFI indicatesthat the given slot is a first slot in an aggregated set of one or moreslots in the radio frame, wherein the one or more slots are consecutivein time, wherein the SFI indicates the number of said one or more slots,wherein, for each symbol in the aggregated set of one or more slots, theSFI determines a transmission direction for the symbol.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a UEdevice, the method comprising: receiving, by a radio of the UE device, aslot format indicator (SFI) from a group common PDCCH of a PDCCH regionof a given slot of a radio frame, wherein the SFI indicates that thegiven slot is a first slot in a set of one or more slots in the radioframe, wherein the one or more slots are consecutive in time, whereinthe SFI includes size parameters defining a partitioning of the set ofone or more slots into a downlink transmission region, a gap region andan uplink region, wherein boundaries between said regions are specifiedat a granularity of symbols.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a slot format indicator (SFI) in a group common PDCCH of aPDCCH region of a given slot of a radio frame, wherein the SFI indicatesthat the given slot is a first slot in a set of one or more slots in theradio frame, wherein the one or more slots are consecutive in time,wherein the SFI includes size parameters defining a partitioning of theset of one or more slots into a downlink transmission region, a gapregion and an uplink region, wherein boundaries between said regions arespecified at a granularity of symbols.

In some embodiments, the uplink region occurs after the gap region,wherein the gap region occurs after the downlink region, wherein thedownlink region occurs after the PCDDH region.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a UEdevice, the method comprising: receiving, by a radio of the UE device,slots in a radio frame, wherein each of the slots includes acorresponding PDCCH region, wherein, for each of the slots, thecorresponding PDCCH region includes a corresponding group common PDCCHand a corresponding set of one or more PDCCHs, wherein, for each of theslots, the corresponding group common PDCCH includes a correspondingslot format indicator (SFI) that indicates a transmission direction forthe slot, wherein, for a given one of the slots, the corresponding SFIindicates that the given slot is an initial slot in an aggregated set oftwo or more of the slots, wherein the two or more slots are consecutivein time, wherein, for each of the two or more slots, the correspondingset of one or more PDCCHs includes corresponding scheduling informationthat allocates corresponding transmission resources in the slot.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, slots in a radio frame, wherein each of the slots includes acorresponding PDCCH region, wherein, for each of the slots, thecorresponding PDCCH region includes a corresponding group common PDCCHand a corresponding set of one or more PDCCHs, wherein, for each of theslots, the corresponding group common PDCCH includes a correspondingslot format indicator (SFI) that indicates a transmission direction forthe slot, wherein, for a given one of the slots, the corresponding SFIindicates that the given slot is an initial slot in an aggregated set oftwo or more of the slots, wherein the two or more slots are consecutivein time, wherein, for each of the two or more slots, the correspondingset of one or more PDCCHs includes corresponding scheduling informationthat allocates corresponding transmission resources in the slot.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a UEdevice, the method comprising: receiving, by a radio of the UE device, aplurality of slots in a radio frame, wherein the slots are consecutivein time, wherein only a first of the slots includes a PDCCH region,wherein the PDCCH region of the first slot includes a group common PDCCHand a set of one or more PDCCHs, wherein the group common PDCCH includesa slot format indicator (SFI) that indicates a transmission directionfor the plurality of slots and indicates that the plurality of slotsform an aggregated set, wherein the set of one or more PDCCHs includesscheduling information that allocates transmission resources for all theslots.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the UEdevice, a plurality of slots in a radio frame, wherein the slots areconsecutive in time, wherein only a first of the slots includes a PDCCHregion, wherein the PDCCH region of the first slot includes a groupcommon PDCCH and a set of one or more PDCCHs, wherein the group commonPDCCH includes a slot format indicator (SFI) that indicates atransmission direction for the plurality of slots and indicates that theplurality of slots form an aggregated set, wherein the set of one ormore PDCCHs includes scheduling information that allocates transmissionresources for all the slots.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a UEdevice, the method comprising: receiving, by a radio of the UE device, afirst slot format indicator (SFI) from a first slot of a radio frame,wherein the first SFI occurs in a group common PDCCH in a PDCCH regionof the first slot; determining that the first slot format indicator(SFI) indicates the presence of PDCCH information in the PDCCH region ofthe first slot, and that the first SFI indicates the first slot is aninitial slot in an aggregated plurality of slots of the radio frame;decoding the PDCCH information in the PDCCH region of the first slot todetermine that the UE device is not scheduled in the aggregatedplurality of slots; determining that a second SFI in a PDCCH region of anon-initial slot of the aggregated plurality indicates that thenon-initial slot does not include PDCCH information; saving power by notattempting to decode PDCCH information from the PDCCH region of thenon-initial slot.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a UEdevice, the method comprising: receiving, by a radio of the UE device, afirst slot format indicator (SFI) from a first slot of a radio frame,wherein the first SFI occurs in a group common PDCCH in a PDCCH regionof the first slot; determining that the first slot format indicator(SFI) indicates the presence of PDCCH information in the PDCCH region ofthe first slot, and that the first SFI indicates the first slot is aninitial slot in an aggregated plurality of slots of the radio frame;decoding the PDCCH information in the PDCCH region of the first slot todetermine that the UE device is scheduled in the aggregated plurality ofslots; determining that a second SFI in a PDCCH region of the secondslot of the aggregated plurality indicates that the second slot does notinclude PDCCH information; decoding at least a portion of downlink datafrom the PDCCH region of the second slot.

In some embodiments, each slot is 2 or 7 or 14 symbols in length.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a first slot format indicator (SFI) within a first slot of aradio frame, wherein the first SFI indicates a first transmissiondirection for at least a first portion of the first slot, wherein thefirst transmit direction is either uplink transmission or downlinktransmission; wherein the SFI is included in a group common PDCCH of aPDCCH region of the first slot, wherein the PDCCH region spans the firstN symbol durations of the first slot, wherein N is greater than or equalto one.

In some embodiments, N is equal to one.

In some embodiments, the first SFI indicates that the PDCCH regionincludes at least one PDCCH.

In some embodiments, the first SFI indicates that the PDCCH region doesnot include a PDCCH.

In some embodiments, the first SFI also indicates a second transmitdirection for a second portion of the first slot, wherein the secondtransmit direction is a direction opposite to the first transmitdirection.

In some embodiments, the first SFI also indicates a second transmitdirection for at least a portion of a second slot, wherein the secondslot follows immediately after the first slot, wherein the secondtransmit direction is a direction opposite to the first transmitdirection.

In some embodiments, the first transmit direction is uplinktransmission, wherein the first SFI indicates a slot aggregation levelfor uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the first transmit direction is downlinktransmission, wherein an extent of slot aggregation for the downlinktransmission is indicated in a DCI of a radio frame containing the firstslot.

In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting, by theradio, a second SFI in a second slot of the radio frame, wherein thesecond slot follows immediately after the first slot, wherein the secondSFI indicates a second transmit direction for at least a portion of thesecond slot, wherein the second transmit direction is either uplinktransmission or downlink transmission, wherein the second SFI isincluded in a group common PDCCH of a PDCCH region of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the second SFI indicates that the PDCCH region ofthe second slot does not include a PDCCH.

In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting, by theradio, a second SFI in a second slot of the radio frame, wherein thesecond SFI indicates that at least a portion of the second slot isblank, wherein the second SFI is included in a group common PDCCH of aPDCCH region of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting, by theradio, a second SFI in a second slot of the radio frame, wherein thesecond SFI indicates that at least a portion of the second slot is to beused for a side link, wherein the second SFI is included in a groupcommon PDCCH of a PDCCH region of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the slot is two or 7 or 14 symbols in length.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a userequipment (UE) device, the method comprising: receiving, by a radio ofthe UE device, a first slot format indicator (SFI) from a first slot ofa radio frame, wherein the first SFI indicates a first transmissiondirection for at least a first portion of the first slot, wherein thefirst transmit direction is either uplink transmission or downlinktransmission; wherein the SFI is included in a group common PDCCH of aPDCCH region of the first slot, wherein the PDCCH region spans the firstN symbol durations of the first slot, wherein N is greater than or equalto one.

In some embodiments, the method further includes performing uplinktransmission or downlink reception in the first portion of the firstslot based on the first transmission direction.

In some embodiments, N is equal to one.

In some embodiments, the method further includes in response todetermining that the SFI indicates the PDCCH region of the first slotincludes at least one PDCCH, decoding the PDCCH from the PDCCH region.

In some embodiments, the method further includes in response todetermining that the first SFI indicates the PDCCH region does notinclude a PDCCH, omitting an attempt to decode PDCCH information fromthe PDCCH region.

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the first SFIindicates a second transmit direction for a second portion of the firstslot, performing downlink reception or uplink transmission in the secondportion of the first slot based on second transmit direction, whereinthe second transmit direction is a direction opposite to the firsttransmit direction.

In some embodiments, the first SFI also indicates a second transmitdirection for at least a portion of a second slot, wherein the secondslot follows immediately after the first slot, wherein the secondtransmit direction is a direction opposite to the first transmitdirection.

In some embodiments, the first transmit direction is uplinktransmission, wherein the first SFI indicates a slot aggregation levelfor uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the first transmit direction is downlinktransmission, wherein an extent of slot aggregation for the downlinktransmission is indicated in a DCI of a radio frame containing the firstslot.

In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving, by the radioof the UE device, a second SFI in a second slot of the radio frame,wherein the second slot follows immediately after the first slot,wherein the second SFI indicates a second transmit direction for atleast a portion of the second slot, wherein the second transmitdirection is either uplink transmission or downlink transmission,wherein the second SFI is included in a group common PDCCH of a PDCCHregion of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the method further includes in response todetermining that the second SFI indicates the PDCCH region of the secondslot does not include a PDCCH, saving power by making no attempt todecode PDCCH information from the PDCCH region of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving, by the radioof the UE device, a second SFI in a second slot of the radio frame; andin response to determining that the second SFI indicates that at least aportion of the second slot is blank, disabling uplink transmission ordownlink reception in said at least a portion of the second slot,wherein the second SFI is included in a group common PDCCH of a PDCCHregion of the second slot

In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving, by theradio, a second SFI in a second slot of the radio frame, performing aside link transmission in at least a portion of the second slot inresponse to determining that the second SFI indicates said at least aportion is to be used for a side link, wherein the second SFI isincluded in a group common PDCCH of a PDCCH region of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the slot is two or 7 or 14 symbols in length.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a first slot format indicator (SFI) within a given slot of aradio frame, wherein the first SFI indicates that at least a firstportion of the given slot is to be used for uplink transmission, whereinthe first SFI is included in a group common PDCCH of the given slot,wherein the group common PDCCH occurs within the first N symboldurations of the given slot, wherein N is an integer greater than orequal to one.

In some embodiments, the given slot includes a gap region, wherein saidfirst portion follows immediately after said gap region, wherein saidgap region follows immediately after said first N symbol durations.

In some embodiments, the first SFI also indicates that one or more slotsfollowing immediately after the given slot are to be used only foruplink transmission, wherein the first SFI also indicates the number ofsaid one or more slots.

In some embodiments, the first SFI also indicates that: at least asecond slot follows immediately after the given slot; and the secondslot is to be used only for uplink transmission, wherein no temporal gapoccurs between a temporal end of the first portion and a temporalbeginning of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the given slot has been previously designated as adownlink slot by downlink control information (DCI) of the radio frame,wherein said first SFI overrides said previous designation.

In some embodiments, the first SFI also indicates that the given slotincludes a set of one or more PDCCHs, wherein the set of one or morePDCCHs occurs with the first N symbol durations of the given slot,wherein the set of one or more PDCCHs include scheduling informationallocating to at least one UE device time-frequency resources in thefirst portion.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a first slot format indicator (SFI) within a given slot of aradio frame, wherein the first SFI indicates that at least a firstportion of the given slot is used for downlink transmission, wherein thefirst SFI is included in a group common PDCCH of the given slot, whereinthe group common PDCCH occurs within the first N symbol durations of thegiven slot, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to one.

In some embodiments, the first portion starts immediately after thefirst N symbol durations of the given slot.

In some embodiments, the first portion includes resource elements thatoccur after the first N symbol durations of the given slot and otherresource elements within the first N symbol durations.

In some embodiments, the given slot also includes a gap region and asecond portion, wherein the second portion is to be used only for uplinktransmission, wherein the second portion starts immediately after thegap region, wherein the gap region starts immediately after the firstportion.

In some embodiments, the second portion temporally spans one or twosymbol durations.

In some embodiments, the second portion contains a positive or negativeacknowledgement (ACK/NACK) for at least a portion of said downlinktransmission.

In some embodiments, the first SFI also indicates that a set of one ormore PDCCHs are included within the first N symbol durations.

In some embodiments, the set of one or more PDCCHs includes schedulinginformation that allocates time-frequency resources in the first portionfor downlink transmission to one or more UEs.

In some embodiments, the first portion covers at least the given slotminus the first N symbol durations.

In some embodiments, the given slot has been previously designated as anuplink slot by downlink control information (DCI) of the radio frame,wherein said first SFI overrides said previous designation.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a plurality of slots that are consecutive in time, wherein eachof the slots includes a corresponding group common PDCCH within thefirst N symbol durations of the slot, wherein N is greater than or equalto one, wherein, for each slot, the corresponding group common PDCCHincludes a corresponding slot format indicator (SFI), wherein, for eachslot, the corresponding SFI indicates that: the slot includes acorresponding set of one or more PDCCHs; and the slot includes acorresponding downlink data portion; wherein the set of one or morePDCCHs in an initial one of the slots includes first schedulinginformation that allocates a first set of time-frequency resourcesaggregated over at least the downlink data portion of the initial slotand the downlink data portion of a second of the slots; wherein the setof one or more PDCCHs in the second slot includes second schedulinginformation that allocates only time-frequency resources in the downlinkdata portion of the second slot.

In some embodiments, for each of the slots, the corresponding downlinkdata portion starts immediately after the first N symbol durations ofthe slot

In some embodiments, all of the slots except for a last of the slots arededicated for downlink transmission only, wherein the last slot includesan uplink transmission portion only at its temporal end.

In some embodiments, an aggregation level for said first set oftime-frequency resources is indicated by a downlink control channel ofthe radio frame.

In some embodiments, an aggregation level for said first set oftime-frequency resources is indicated by a aggregation level field inthe group common PDCCH.

In some embodiments, for each of the slots except for a last of theslots, the corresponding downlink data portion covers at least the slotminus the first N symbol durations.

In some embodiments, for each of the slots except for a last of theslots, the corresponding downlink data portion temporally spans the slotminus the first N symbol durations.

In some embodiments, a last of the slots also includes a gap region andan uplink data portion, wherein, in the last slot, the uplink dataportions starts immediately after the gap region, and the gap regionstarts immediately after the downlink data portion.

In some embodiments, the uplink data portion includes at leastacknowledgements for downlink transmissions.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a plurality of slots that are consecutive in time, wherein eachof the slots includes a corresponding group common PDCCH within thefirst N symbol durations of the slot, wherein N is greater than or equalto one, wherein, for each slot, the corresponding group common PDCCHincludes a corresponding slot format indicator (SFI), wherein, for eachslot, the corresponding SFI indicates that the slot includes acorresponding downlink data portion, wherein, for an initial one of theslots, the corresponding SFI indicates that the initial slot includes acorresponding set of one or more PDCCHs, wherein the corresponding setof one or more PDCCHs in the initial slot includes first schedulinginformation that allocates an aggregation of time-frequency resourcesover all the downlink data portions of all the slots, wherein, for eachof the slots after the initial slot, the corresponding SFI indicatesthat the slot does not include a PDCCH.

In some embodiments, all of the slots except for a last of the slots arededicated for downlink transmission only, wherein the last slot includesan uplink transmission portion only at its temporal end.

In some embodiments, for a second of the slots, the correspondingdownlink data portion covers at least a region equal to the second slotminus N OFDM symbols corresponding to the first N symbol durations ofthe second slot.

In some embodiments, for each of the slots, the corresponding downlinkdata portion starts immediately after the first N symbol durations ofthe slot.

In some embodiments, for each of the slots except for a last of theslots, the corresponding downlink data portion temporally spans the slotminus the first N symbol durations.

In some embodiments, in a last of the slots, the corresponding downlinkdata portion is followed immediately by a gap region, which is followedimmediately by an uplink data portion, wherein the uplink data portionincludes at least acknowledgements for downlink transmissions.

In some embodiments, an aggregation level for said aggregation oftime-frequency resources is indicated by a downlink control channel ofthe radio frame.

In some embodiments, an aggregation level for said aggregation oftime-frequency resources is indicated by an aggregation level fieldwhich is separately encoded from SFI which encodes transmissiondirection only.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a plurality of slots that are consecutive in time, wherein onlya temporally initial one of the slots includes a PDCCH region thattemporally spans the first N symbol durations of the initial slot,wherein N is greater than or equal to one, wherein the PDCCH regionincludes a group common PDCCH, wherein the group common PDCCH of theinitial slot includes a slot format indicator (SFI), wherein the SFIindicates: that each of the slots includes a corresponding downlink dataportion; and the number of slots in said plurality of slots; whereinonly a last of the slots includes an uplink data portion, wherein theuplink data portion occurs at a temporal end of the last slot, whereinthe downlink data portion of the last slot starts at the temporalbeginning of the last slot.

In some embodiments, in the initial slot, the corresponding downlinkdata portion starts immediately after the PDCCH region, and spans theinitial slot minus the PDCCH region.

In some embodiments, for each of the slots after the initial slot, theslot does not include any information that schedules time-frequencyresources in the corresponding downlink data portion to user equipment.

In some embodiments, the SFI in the initial slot indicates that thePDCCH region of the initial slot includes a set of one or more PDCCHs,wherein the set of one or more PDCCHs includes scheduling informationthat allocates an aggregated set of time frequency resources, whereinthe aggregated set include resource portions from the downlink dataportions of all the slots.

In some embodiments, the SFI indicates a number of symbols durationsoccupied by the uplink data portion in the last slot.

In some embodiments, in the last slot, a gap region occurs between thedownlink data portion and the uplink data portion.

In some embodiments, there are at least three slots in said plurality ofslots, wherein, in each of the slots of said plurality except for theinitial slot and the last slot, the corresponding downlink data portionentirely covers the slot.

In some embodiments, the SFI could be divided into transmissiondirection and slot aggregation, and encoded separately.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a slot format indicator (SFI) within a group common PDCCHregion of a first slot, wherein the group common PDCCH region occurswithin the first N symbol durations of the first slot, wherein N isgreater than or equal to one, wherein the SFI indicates that a UE deviceis not to transmit or receive over a region of the first slot equal tothe first slot minus the group common PDCCH region.

In some embodiments, the SFI indicates the UE device is not to transmitor receive during one or more consecutive slots starting immediatelyafter the first slot, wherein the SFI also indicates the number of saidone or more slots.

In some embodiments, a group common PDCCH in PDCCH region is decodableby each UE in a designed group of UEs, wherein the SFI indicates that aside link transmission between UEs is enabled during said first slot.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a firstuser equipment (UE) device, the method comprising: receiving, by a radioof the first UE device, a slot format indicator (SFI) from a groupcommon PDCCH region of a first slot, wherein the group common PDCCHregion occurs within the first N symbol durations of the first slot,wherein N is greater than or equal to one, wherein the SFI indicatesthat a region of the first slot equal to the first slot minus the groupcommon PDCCH region is not used by the base station for downlinktransmission and is not to be used by the first UE device for uplinktransmission to the base station.

In some embodiments, the SFI indicates that one or more slots followingimmediately after the first slot are not used by the base station fordownlink transmission and are not to be used by the first UE device foruplink transmission to the base station, wherein the SFI also indicatesthe number of said one or more slots.

In some embodiments, the SFI indicates that a side link transmissionbetween the first UE device and another UE device is enabled during thefirst slot.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a first slot and a second slot, wherein the second slot istransmitted immediately after the first slot, wherein the first slotincludes a group common PDCCH, wherein the group common PDCCH occurswithin the first N symbol durations of the first slot, wherein N isgreater than or equal to one, wherein the group common PDCCH indicatesthat: the first slot includes a downlink data portion; and the secondslot is used entirely for uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the downlink data portion of the first slot startsimmediately after the first N symbol durations of the first slot.

In some embodiments, the first slot also includes a gap region at itstemporal end.

In some embodiments, the SFI also indicates that the first slot does notinclude a PDCCH.

In some embodiments, the SFI also indicates that the first slot does notinclude scheduling information that allocates time-frequency resourcesto a UE device.

In some embodiments, the SFI also indicates that the first slot includesa set of one or more PDCCHs, wherein the set of one or more PDCCHsincludes scheduling information that allocates downlink transmissionresources in the downlink data portion and uplink transmission resourcesin the second slot.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a slot format indicator in a first slot of a plurality ofslots, wherein the slots of said plurality are consecutive in time,wherein the slot format indicator occurs within a group common PDCCH ofthe first slot, wherein the group common PDCCH occurs within the first Nsymbol durations of the first slot, wherein N is greater than or equalto one, wherein the slot format indicator includes size parameters for apartitioning of the union of the slots minus at least the first Nsymbols durations of the first slot into a downlink data region, a gapregion and an uplink data region, wherein the downlink data regionstarts after the first N symbol durations of the first slot, wherein thegap region starts immediately after the downlink data region, whereinthe uplink data region starts immediately after the gap region, whereinthe size parameters include: a first number M of slots defining a sizeof an initial portion of the downlink data region; a second number ofsymbol durations defining a size of a terminal portion of the downlinkdata region, wherein the terminal portion occurs in the (M+1)^(th) slotof said plurality; a third number of symbol durations defining a size ofthe gap region within the (M+1)^(th) slot of said plurality; a fourthnumber of symbol durations defining a size of an initial portion of theuplink data region within the (M+1)^(th) slot of said plurality; and afifth number of slots defining a size of a terminal portion of theuplink data region.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a slot format indicator in a first slot of a plurality ofslots, wherein the slots of said plurality are consecutive in time,wherein the slot format indicator occurs within a group common PDCCH ofthe first slot, wherein the group common PDCCH occurs within the first Nsymbol durations of the first slot, wherein N is greater than or equalto one, wherein the slot format indicator includes size parameters for apartitioning of the union of the slots minus at least the first Nsymbols durations of the first slot into a downlink data region, a gapregion and an uplink data region, wherein the downlink data regionstarts after the first N symbol durations of the first slot, wherein thegap region starts immediately after the downlink data region, whereinthe uplink data region starts immediately after the gap region, whereinthe size parameters include a first number M of slots defining a size ofan initial portion of the downlink data region, wherein the sizeparameters include two of the following three parameters: a secondnumber of symbol durations defining a size of a terminal portion of thedownlink data region, wherein the terminal portion occurs in the(M+1)^(th) slot of said plurality; a third number of symbol durationsdefining a size of the gap region within the (M+1)^(th) slot of saidplurality; a fourth number of symbol durations defining a size of aninitial portion of the uplink data region within the (M+1)^(th) slot ofsaid plurality; wherein the size parameters also include a fifth numberof slots defining a size of a terminal portion of the uplink dataregion.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a plurality of slots that are consecutive in time, wherein eachof the slots includes a corresponding group common PDCCH within thefirst N symbol durations of the slot, wherein N is greater than or equalto one, wherein, for each slot, the corresponding group common PDCCHincludes a corresponding slot format indicator (SFI), wherein, for eachslot, the corresponding SFI indicates that: the slot includes acorresponding set of one or more PDCCHs; and the slot includes acorresponding downlink data portion; wherein the set of one or morePDCCHs in an initial one of the slots includes first schedulinginformation that allocates to a first UE device a first set oftime-frequency resources that are aggregated over two or more of thedownlink data portions including the downlink data portion of theinitial slot; wherein the set of one or more PDCCHs in the initial slotincludes second scheduling information that allocates to a second UEdevice time-frequency resources only in the downlink data portion of theinitial slot.

In some embodiments, the set of one or more PDCCHs in a second one ofthe slots includes third scheduling information that allocates to athird UE device time-frequency resources only in the downlink dataportion of the second slot.

In some embodiments, acknowledgements from one or more UEs scheduled inthe two or more downlink data portions are included in a last portion ofa last of the slots.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a plurality of slots that are consecutive in time, wherein eachof the slots includes a corresponding group common PDCCH within thefirst N symbol durations of the slot, wherein N is greater than or equalto one, wherein, for each slot, the corresponding group common PDCCHincludes a corresponding slot format indicator (SFI), wherein, for eachslot, the corresponding SFI indicates that: the slot includes acorresponding set of one or more PDCCHs; and the slot includes acorresponding downlink data portion; wherein the set of one or morePDCCHs in an initial one of the slots includes first schedulinginformation that allocates to a first UE device a first portion of anaggregated set of time frequency resources, wherein the first portionoccurs within the downlink data portion of the initial slot, wherein theset of one or more PDCCHs in a second of the slots includes secondscheduling information that allocates to the first UE device a secondportion of the aggregated set of time frequency resources, wherein thesecond portion occurs within the downlink data portion of the secondslot, wherein the second slot follows immediately after the initialslot, wherein the set of one or more PDCCHs in the initial slot alsoincludes third scheduling information that allocates to a second UEdevice time frequency resources only in the downlink data portion of theinitial slot.

In some embodiments, the set of one or more PDCCHs in the second slotincludes fourth scheduling information that allocates to a third UEdevice time frequency resources only in the downlink data portion of thesecond slot.

Another set of embodiments may include a method for operating a basestation, the method comprising: transmitting, by a radio of the basestation, a plurality of slots that are consecutive in time, wherein eachof the slots includes a corresponding PDCCH region spanning the first Nsymbol durations of the slot, wherein N is greater than or equal to one,wherein, for each of the slots, the corresponding PDCCH region includesa corresponding group common PDCCH; wherein, for each slot, thecorresponding group common PDCCH includes a corresponding slot formatindicator (SFI), wherein, for each slot, the corresponding SFI indicatesthat the slot includes a corresponding downlink data portion; wherein,for an initial one of the slots, the corresponding SFI indicates thatthe corresponding PDCCH region includes a first set of one or morePDCCHs; wherein, for a second one of the slots, the corresponding SFIindicates that a subregion equal to the corresponding PDCCH region minusthe corresponding group common PDCCH does not include PDCCH information,wherein the downlink data portion for the second slot includes a firstsubset of resource elements residing within the subregion of the PDCCHregion of the second slot and a second subset of resource elementsoccurring after the PDCCH region of the second slot.

In some embodiments, the downlink data portion of the initial slotstarts after the PDCCH region of the initial slot.

In some embodiments, each slot spans two or 7 or 14 symbols in time.

Another set of embodiments may include a base station, comprising: anantenna; a radio operably coupled to the antenna; and a processingelement operably coupled to the radio; wherein the antenna, radio, andprocessing element are configured to implement a method according to anyof the preceding paragraphs.

Another set of embodiments may include an apparatus, comprising aprocessing element configured to implement a method according to any ofthe preceding paragraphs.

Another set of embodiments may include a computer program comprisinginstructions for performing any of the methods of any of the precedingparagraphs.

Another set of embodiments may include a apparatus comprising means forperforming any of the method elements of any of the precedingparagraphs.

Another set of embodiments may include a method that includes any actionor combination of actions as substantially described herein in theDetailed Description.

Another set of embodiments may include a method as substantiallydescribed herein with reference to each or any combination of theFigures included herein or with reference to each or any combination ofparagraphs in the Detailed Description.

Another set of embodiments may include a wireless device configured toperform any action or combination of actions as substantially describedherein in the Detailed Description.

Another set of embodiments may include a wireless device that includesany component or combination of components as described herein in theDetailed Description as included in a wireless device.

Another set of embodiments may include a wireless device configured toperform any action or combination of actions as substantially describedherein in the Detailed Description.

Another set of embodiments may include a wireless device that includesany component or combination of components as described herein in theDetailed Description as included in a wireless device.

Another set of embodiments may include a non-volatile computer-readablemedium that stores instructions that, when executed, cause theperformance of any action or combination of actions as substantiallydescribed herein in the Detailed Description.

Another set of embodiments may include an integrated circuit configuredto perform any action or combination of actions as substantiallydescribed herein in the Detailed Description.

A still further exemplary set of embodiments may include an apparatus,comprising a processing element configured to cause a device toimplement any or all parts of the preceding examples.

Another exemplary set of embodiments may include a wireless device,comprising: an antenna; a radio coupled to the antenna; and a processingelement operably coupled to the radio, wherein the device is configuredto implement any or all parts of the preceding examples.

A yet further exemplary set of embodiments may include a non-transitorycomputer accessible memory medium comprising program instructions which,when executed at a device, cause the device to implement any or allparts of any of the preceding examples.

A still further exemplary set of embodiments may include a computerprogram comprising instructions for performing any or all parts of anyof the preceding examples.

Yet another exemplary set of embodiments may include an apparatuscomprising means for performing any or all of the elements of any of thepreceding examples.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in any of variousforms. For example, some embodiments may be realized as acomputer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or acomputer system. Other embodiments may be realized using one or morecustom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Still other embodimentsmay be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such asFPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory mediummay be configured so that it stores program instructions and/or data,where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, causethe computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of a methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE 106) may be configured toinclude a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, wherethe memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor isconfigured to read and execute the program instructions from the memorymedium, where the program instructions are executable to implement anyof the various method embodiments described herein (or, any combinationof the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of themethod embodiments described herein, or, any combination of suchsubsets). The device may be realized in any of various forms.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A base station (BS), comprising: a radio; and aprocessor operably connected to the radio and configured to cause the BSto: establish communication with a first user equipment device (UE);transmit a first slot format indicator (SFI) index of a plurality of SFIindices to the UE, wherein each SFI index of the plurality of SFIindices indicates a respective single slot format indicator for eachrespective slot of one or more consecutive slots, wherein each singleslot format indicator indicates a respective transmission direction foreach respective symbol of the 14 symbols in a corresponding slot, andwherein each SFI index refers to an index-specific number of single slotformat indicators corresponding to the index-specific number ofconsecutive slots; and perform communication during the index-specificnumber of consecutive slots according to the first SFI index.
 2. Thebase station of claim 1, wherein the one or more consecutive slotsincludes a plurality of slots, wherein the first SFI index includes sizeparameters defining a partitioning of the plurality of slots into adownlink transmission region, a gap region and an uplink region, whereinboundaries between said regions are specified at a granularity ofsymbols.
 3. The base station of claim 1, wherein the processor isfurther configured to cause the BS to transmit a table to the UE,wherein the first SFI index corresponds to an entry in the table.
 4. Thebase station of claim 1, wherein at least one single slot formatindicator switches from downlink to uplink twice.
 5. The base station ofclaim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the BS toperiodically transmit an SFI index every n slots, wherein n is at least2.
 6. The base station of claim 1, wherein the first SFI index issemi-static.
 7. The base station of claim 1, wherein the first SFI indexis transmitted a plurality of symbols before the one or more consecutiveslots indicated by the first SFI index.
 8. The base station of claim 1,wherein the first SFI index is specific to the first UE.
 9. A basebandprocessor, comprising: processing circuitry configured to performoperations at a user equipment device (UE), the operations comprising:establishing communication with a base station; receiving, from the basestation, a first slot format indicator (SFI) index of a plurality of SFIindices, wherein each SFI index of the plurality of SFI indicesindicates a respective single slot format indicator for each respectiveslot of one or more consecutive slots, wherein each single slot formatindicator indicates a respective transmission direction for eachrespective symbol of the 14 symbols in a corresponding slot, and whereineach SFI index refers to an index-specific number of single slot formatindicators corresponding to the index-specific number of consecutiveslots; and performing communication with the base station during theindex-specific number of consecutive slots according to the first SFIindex.
 10. The baseband processor of claim 9, wherein the first SFIindex is transmitted a plurality of symbols before the one or moreconsecutive slots indicated by the first SFI index.
 11. The basebandprocessor of claim 9, wherein the one or more consecutive slots includesa plurality of slots, wherein the first SFI index includes sizeparameters defining a partitioning of the plurality of slots into adownlink transmission region, a gap region and an uplink region, whereinboundaries between said regions are specified at a granularity ofsymbols.
 12. The baseband processor of claim 9, wherein the operationsfurther comprise receiving a table, wherein the first SFI indexcorresponds to an entry in the table.
 13. The baseband processor ofclaim 9, wherein at least one single slot format indicator switches fromdownlink to uplink twice.
 14. The baseband processor of claim 9, whereinthe first SFI index is semi-static.
 15. A user equipment device (UE),comprising: a radio; and a processor operably connected to the radio andconfigured to cause the UE to: establish communication with a basestation; receive, from the base station, a first slot format indicator(SFI) index of a plurality of SFI indices, wherein each SFI index of theplurality of SFI indices indicates a respective single slot formatindicator for each respective slot of one or more consecutive slots,wherein each single slot format indicator indicates a respectivetransmission direction for each respective symbol of the 14 symbols in acorresponding slot, and wherein each SFI index refers to anindex-specific number of single slot format indicators corresponding tothe index-specific number of consecutive slots; and performcommunication with the base station during the index-specific number ofconsecutive slots according to the first SFI index.
 16. The UE of claim15, wherein the one or more consecutive slots includes a plurality ofslots, wherein the first SFI index includes size parameters defining apartitioning of the plurality of slots into a downlink transmissionregion, a gap region and an uplink region, wherein boundaries betweensaid regions are specified at a granularity of symbols.
 17. UE of claim15, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the UE toreceive a table, wherein the first SFI index corresponds to an entry inthe table.
 18. The UE of claim 15, wherein at least one single slotformat indicator switches from downlink to uplink twice.
 19. The UE ofclaim 15, wherein the first SFI index is semi-static.
 20. The UE ofclaim 15, wherein the first SFI index is transmitted a plurality ofsymbols before the one or more consecutive slots indicated by the firstSFI index.